Biodiversity and Climate Change

Species extinction rates have accelerated well above background levels over the past century. Climate changes are an important driver in current and future anticipated declines for biodiversity. Stemming the loss of populations and species requires knowledge on the basis for local variation in extinction risk and conservation planning based on this information.

Research areas include: local climate change-related extinction risk for songbird populations, protected area planning that strategically prioritizes hotspots for biodiversity conservation under Canada Target 1 – the national complement to the international Convention on Biological Diversity 2020 Aichi Target 11, and techniques to identify climate refugia.